Unemployment Rate Drops; Home Prices Up

Unemployment Rate Drops; Home Prices Up

Article excerpt

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 431,000 in May. This was mainly driven by 411,000 temporary U.S. Census jobs, while private-sector employment was essentially unchanged, recording a 41,000-job increase. April's initially reported gain of 230,000 jobs was downwardly revised to 208,000.

Job gains were in manufacturing (+29,000), temporary help services (+31,000) and mining (+10,000), while construction employment saw a decline of 35,000. Government employment rose by 390,000 in May, which includes the 411,000 temporary workers for Census 2010. Employment in state government, excluding education, decreased by 13,000 in May.

The unemployment rate edged down to 9.7 percent from 9.9 percent, as the number of re-entrants to the job market declined by 286,000 in May and the labor force participation rate decreased to 65 percent from 65.2 percent.

The number of long-term unemployed individuals was 6.8 million, up from 6.7 million in April. These individuals made up 46 percent of unemployed people, which is essentially the same as in April. …